Status of a Nation
by Smile Life Away
Summary: UK remembers. America listens. Brotherly bonding


**A/N: My third Hetalia fic. **

**Disclaimer: I Own Nothing**

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The title looked good next to his name, _World Power. _America wasn't going to deny he liked the sound of it. Sure, for now he had to share it with super annoying Russia. Sorry, Soviet Union. But, in time, America knew he'd have it all to himself. He was the one who deserved it, after all.

To celebrate, America had planned a house party. Just him and some of the members of this brand new United Nations thing his boss had come up with. Russia, however, was not invited. America checked his watch; the party had started twenty nine minutes ago and only the United Kingdom had arrived from the Security Council. Not even China had made an appearance, but then they hadn't been talking much recently. China had cited domestic reasons for their recent fallout, but America was sure China was jealous. Other than England, all of the other guests were lesser nations like Belgium, the Netherlands, and of course Canada. America's twin brother never knew when he wasn't wanted. Really, America had only invited him in case this whole thing with Russia escalated. It was possible that he would need to fly his atomic bomb in Canadian airspace. He didn't trust his new German scientists and their insistence that the ballistic missile was the way to go. America was old-fashioned.

His watch hit thirty and the doors of his house swung open. France sauntered in flipping his hair and blowing spontaneous kisses. From the corner, England groaned. Both America and his older brother agreed that France had been acting even worse since he'd gotten a new boss de Gaulle, or whatever. America had never heard of a man so full of himself. Not even Russia's boss annoyed him so much, and they were practically enemies.

Slouching into a chair, America watched as France greeted England and gave a little smile when his brother barely acknowledged the irritating nation.

"Umm…excuse me…" the voice broke through America's thoughts. "Excuse me…"

"Who is it?" America started to turn his head, but there was no one speaking to him. "Is there a ghost in here?" His voice became frightened. America hated ghosts.

"Excuse me…"

The voice spoke again, and this time there was a sharp jab in America's side, and he spun around.

"Excuse me…" it was Canada. "You're sitting on me."

"Why didn't you say something?"

Rolling his eyes, America plucked Canada out of the chair and sat down again. His twin brother could be such an idiot sometimes. What kind of a person stayed in a chair when someone else sat on top of him? America was going to have to teach Canada about self-respect.

"Hello."

America looked up. Belgium stood opposite of him, a wide smile on her face. She'd been unusually friendly to him ever since "America" had liberated her country at the end of the war. America hadn't corrected her and told her that it had been Canada and not him at all. He'd been busy in France and Japan.

Japan, America felt the pang in his heart at the thought of his once friend.

"I brought you something." She held out a gift to him, and America took it. At least someone felt the need to recognize him.

When Belgium realized America wasn't going to respond, she scuttled away and America opened the gift. It was chocolate. Of course Belgium would give him chocolate. America took a bite and wasn't disappointed. If there was one thing, and only one thing, Belgium could do better than him it was make chocolate. Mr. Hershey really wasn't much competition.

The chocolate did little to help America's mood, though. His celebratory mood had turned sour once China had stood him up, France had come late, and America had started thinking about Japan. Things had been so promising between the two nations once; America had the cherry blossoms to prove it. He didn't get why Japan had gotten so angry just because America had a few ships in the Pacific Ocean, and he really didn't get why the nation had felt the need to bomb him. Well America had gotten him back, and he'd gotten him good, but he didn't feel so great about having taught Japan a lesson.

"Your party is a bit dull, and here I thought you were supposed to be good at throwing parties. You had quite a nice one when the war ended. I almost stopped in."

England came and took a seat on the arm of America's chair.

"China didn't come. Japan's not my friend anymore. No one except Belgium gave me a gift." America listed off his complaints. "You have a grey hair," America added after a moment.

"I do not you little g- oww!"

England's hand flew to his head as America plucked out the piece of silver hair and held it in front of his face.

"Yes you do. Sometimes I forget how old you are." What America meant was "Sometimes I forget how young I am," but he would never say that, not to England especially. America had stopped needing England a long time ago. He was the world power now. Today was his day.

England chuckled. It had been a while since America had heard England laugh, especially at something he'd said.

"You haven't changed at all, little hero," the older nation mocked. "I used to be like you. When the Spanish Armada fell before me I was convinced of my greatness. I watched the world bow at the power of my navy and I rose until no other nation could even touch me. I was the one who brought the locomotive if you remember and Penicillin and Radar. When you were fighting a war against yourself, I was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. I was on top of the world. But do you know what happened?"

"You lost your spot to me?" America guessed.

"Germany built a ship. Then two ships and so on and so forth starting the Naval Arms Race. You know what happened after that. You were there, however late you were to the party. When it was all over, I was weaker, and then it happened again."

England stood up and adjusted his suit. "You're still young, but one day you're going to realize you're not as strong as you used to be. When that happens, we'll see if you can still hold your spot."

America slunk lower in his chair. He hated it when his older brother said things that made sense, especially when he was already having a bad day. America gave a deep sigh, and England, who had started to walk away, turned around.

"Don't worry about China and Japan. You never know who's going to be your friend sixty or seventy years from now. Who knows, one day you might be playing games with Japan and plotting against China. These things are never certain."

This time, England did walk away, and America guessed, was planning on leaving the party.

_Temporary world power_. America played around with it in his head. He didn't like the sound of it nearly as much.

"I better outlive Russia." He didn't mean to say it out loud, but the Netherlands turned to him suddenly and gave him a long look.

America smiled back and stood up. "Well," he decided. "Might as well live it up while it lasts."


End file.
